Dell's Venue 11 Pro (7139) is the company's top-of-the-line tablet with enterprise level security features. It's built to meet all the needs of an enterprise business, and it's our top choice for high-end business tablets.

The Dell Venue 11 Pro (7139) ($1,252.37 as tested) is the top-of-the-line version of our current Editors' Choice for entry-level business slate tablets, the Dell Venue 11 Pro. The Venue 11 Pro (7139) has an upgraded ultrabook-class processor and a similarly upgraded price. Our review unit had all the bells and whistles, including biometric security and TPM (Trusted Platform Module). Read on for a few minor nits to pick, but the short version says the Venue 11 Pro is our Editors' Choice for high-end business tablets.

Design and Features The Dell Venue 11 Pro (7139) is physically almost identical to the budget model Venue 11 Pro. As a slate tablet, it weighs 1.8 pounds and measures 0.61 by 11 by 7 inches (HWD). It fits well in the crook of your arm and you can comfortably use it with the Active Stylus ($31.49 when purchased separately) all day. You can purchase the tablet alone without the keyboard dock and stylus for $1,080.89. The Synaptics-based stylus has palm rejection and supports mouse hover so you can look at mouseover text on websites or easily work with graphic arts programs. About the only drawback to the stylus is that there isn't any storage for it in the tablet body or the Dell Tablet Keyboard dock. This is only slightly worse than the Microsoft Surface Pro 3, which uses a fragile plastic loop to hold the stylus.

The 10.8-inch, 10-point touch screen is a bright and clear IPS display, once you defeat the aggressive automatic screen dimming by fiddling with the tablet's power settings, that is. The default settings dim the screen so much that you can barely see it in a moderately lit room. You can view multiple page spreadsheets on the 1,920-by-1,080 resolution display, or kick back and enjoy streaming 1080p HD movies from your favorite online video service.

You'll find a fingerprint reader and a NFC reader on the back panel of the tablet, which is one of the reasons why it is 0.2 inches thicker than the budget Venue 11 Pro. TPM 1.2 is standard on this 7139 security version of the tablet, which you may need to fulfill IT or contract requirements. This is more convenient than the security jacket you have to buy separately and install on the HP ElitePad 900. Our previous Editors' Choice for high end slate tablets Dell Latitude 10 Enhanced Security also had a fingerprint reader and TPM 1.2. The back panel opens with a fingernail, so you can remove the standard 36-watt removable battery. Extra batteries are available (36Wh for $80.99; 32Wh for $71.99). That's a significant business coup, since most tablets come with sealed batteries.

The $1,195.47 price of our review unit includes the $139.99 Mobile Tablet Keyboard, which is identical to the one we tested with the budget Venue 11 Pro. It clips on to the tablet with a locking mechanism, which can be unlatched by pushing a button. When connected, the tablet acts like a top-heavy clamshell laptop, which is more convenient for typing sessions than using the on-screen keyboard. The keyboard is a bit smaller than full size, but is comfortable with good key feel. If there's any drawback to the keyboard dock, it's that the screen won't tilt back beyond 95 degrees. That may be inconvenient if you hold the system on your lap. The Editors' Choice for Windows slate tablets Microsoft Surface Pro 2 and its Surface Pro 3 big brother both tilt back further on their kickstands.

The Venue 11 Pro (7139) charges via a micro USB port, which also means that you can also power up your mobile devices with the same charger. You'll find a protected microSD card reader and a full sized USB 3.0 port on the sides of the tablet, along with a mini HDMI port. Mini HDMI is kind of an odd duck, because it's harder to find cables for it. The Sony VAIO Tap 11 has a more common micro HDMI port, and the Surface Pro bothers each have mini DisplayPort. 802.11ac Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 4.0 handle wireless connectivity.

After initially setting up the tablet, 82GB is available on the 128GB SSD. Since it's a business tablet, the Venue 11 Pro (7139) comes without any added software aside from a trial copy of Microsoft Office and the other standard Window 8 apps. The tablet comes with one year of Dell ProSupport (enterprise-level tech support) in addition to the standard warranty.

Performance Under the hood, there's an Intel Core i5-4300Y processor, 4GB of system memory, and a 128GB SSD for storage. This configuration returned a very good 2,407 points on the PCMark 8 Work Conventional test, which measures performance on a group of day-to-day tasks including office tasks, video conferencing, and web browsing. This was still competitive with the Microsoft Surface Pro 3 (2,704 points). Likewise, multimedia test scores (6:54 on Handbrake; 6:19 on Adobe Photoshop CS6) lagged behind the Surface Pro 3 (2:59 on Handbrake; 4:48 on CS6) and the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon Touch ultrabook (3:41 on Handbrake; 5:03 on CS6).

Battery life was very good, 6:29 for the internal battery, and 9:18 with the keyboard dock attached. The entry-level Venue 11 Pro is still our endurance leader, however, with 9:01 on the internal battery and a solid 18:00 with the external battery. The Surface Pro 2 is in the middle with 7:19, and the ThinkPad X1 Carbon Touch (4:36) and VAIO Tap 11 (3:55) barely last half a day.

The top of the line Dell Venue 11 Pro (7139) excels as a workhorse Windows 8 slate tablet with its detachable keyboard base. It's got a lot more performance potential than the similarly priced, Atom-equipped Dell Latitude 10 Enhanced Security, our previous high-end champ. Plus, the Venue 11 Pro has a detachable keyboard option, while the Latitude 10 is a simple slate. Therefore, it's no surprise that the Venue 11 Pro (7139) is our new Editors' Choice for high-end business tablets, replacing the Latitude 10.

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Joel Santo Domingo is the Lead Analyst for the Desktops team at PC Magazine Labs. He joined PC Magazine in 2000, after 7 years of IT work for companies large and small. His background includes managing mobile, desktop and network infrastructure on both the Macintosh and Windows platforms. Joel is proof that you can escape the retail grind: he wore a yellow polo shirt early in his tech career. Along the way Joel earned a BA in English Literature and an MBA in Information Technology...
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